Climate change caused floods in Chennai: Prime Minister

In his monthly radio show ‘Mann Ki Baat’, Modi recalled his proposal for setting up a SAARC disaster response mechanism and said the recently-held ‘table talk exercise and best practices seminar’ in Delhi was a good beginning. 

“We keep receiving news of the natural disasters from every corner of the world. These are tragedies which have never been heard earlier or imagined. We are now experiencing the impact of fast-changing climate. In our own country, massive rains recently hit Tamil Nadu and caused losses to it as well as other states. Several people lost their lives. I offer my condolences to them,” he said. 

While talking about Chennai rains and the disaster caused there, the PM said while the state government is trying to tide over the situation, the Centre is working shoulder-to-shoulder with it. A central team has gone to Tamil Nadu to assess the damage, he said while expressing confidence that the state will keep moving forward despite this crisis. His emphasis on the responsibility of all assumes significance as the developed world is placing greater onus on developing nations like India in the fight against climate change. India should assume greater role in fighting global warming by funding and transferring low-cost technology to developing nations.